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Dexter Smythe (Literary)
| occupation = Gold smuggler | affiliation = Independent | status = Deceased | role = Villain | portrayed = | first_appearance = Octopussy (short story) | last_appearance = Octopussy (short story) }} Major Dexter Smythe, OBE, Royal Marines (Retd.)Fleming 2008, p. 194. was a fictional retired British Major and gold-smuggler. The character was first introduced in Ian Fleming's 1965 posthumously published short story, Octopussy, which was later included in the compilation book, Octopussy and The Living Daylights. Biography At the end of the Second World War, the Miscellaneous Objectives Bureau had been jormed jointly by Combined Operations and the Secret Service. Major Smythe had been given the temporary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and told to form a unit whose job would be the cleaning up of Gestapo and Abwehr hideouts when the collapse of Germany came about.Fleming 2008, p. 194. During the operation in Tyrol, he was given German documents to look over at the Tiefenbrunner hotel. He found an envelope, from where he found information on two gold bars hidden at the area of Kaiser mountains. He hired Hannes Oberhauser as his guide and they climbed up to the mountain hut near the place where gold bars were hidden. Smythe shot two bullets into the base of Oberhauser's skull with his revolver above the glacier, and in the end, managed to smuggle the gold bars to Jamaica. Before getting married with his wife, Mary Smythe (née Parnell), who had later deceased, he used to be a handsome man who had made easy sexual conquests all his military life.Fleming 2008, p. 184–185, 194–195, 197–198, 202–203 & 208. In Jamaica, Smythe agreed to sell the gold bars, inch by inch, by the way of Chinese Foo brothers, who had just begun to trade again with resurgent Hong Kong, already the entrepôt for gold-smuggling into the neighbouring Macao.Fleming 2008, p. 210 & 213. Later, Oberhauser's body was found, and the bullets inside his body had matched Smythe's Webley & Scott .45 with serial number 8967/362. James Bond had wanted to chase Oberhauser's killer, because Oberhauser used to be his friend. Bond visited Major Smythe for hearing out his story. He did not arrest Smythe immediately, but told him that it will be about a week before someone would be send out to bring Smythe home.Fleming 2008, p 195–196 & 215. Major Smythe was bored of his life and he had a pet octopus, Octopussy, whom he had decided to tame. Professor Bengry at the Institute had wanted Smythe to find out if the octopus was going to eat a scorpion fish, and if it would, would it suffer of the poison of the fish. Smythe had decided to do the research and leave one tiny memorial in the Institute's marine biological files.Fleming 2008, p 184 & 186–189. The same day Bond had visited Smythe, he was later killed by a scorpion fish and Octopussy. After the body was found, Bond assumed suicide privately, but wrote "found drowned", together with the date on the bulky file.Fleming 2008, p 189, 219 & 222–223. See Also *Dexter Smythe (Film Character) Bibliography * Fleming, Ian (2008). Quantum of Solace – The Complete James Bond Short Stories. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-141-18962-8. References Category:Octopussy characters Category:Suicidal Characters Category:Villains